Whig peers, and the Lord Privy Seal Lonsdale, one of the most
moderate and reasonable of the Tories, took the lead, and were
strenuously supported by the Lord President Pembroke, and by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, who seems on this occasion to have a
little forgotten his habitual sobriety and caution. Two natural
sons of Charles the Second, Richmond and Southampton, who had
strong personal reasons for disliking resumption bills, were
zealous on the same side. No peer, however, as far as can now be
discovered, ventured to defend the way in which William had
disposed of his Irish domains. The provisions which annulled the
grants of those domains were left untouched. But the words of
which the effect was to vest in the parliamentary trustees
property which had never been forfeited to the King, and had
never been given away by him, were altered; and the clauses by
which estates and sums of money were, in defiance of
constitutional principle and of immemorial practice, bestowed on
persons who were favourites of the Commons, were so far modified
as to be, in form, somewhat less exceptionable. The bill,
improved by these changes, was sent down by two judges to the
Lower House.

The Lower House was all in a flame. There was now no difference
of opinion there. Even those members who thought that the
Resumption Bill and the Land Tax Bill ought not to have been
tacked together, yet felt that, since those bills had been tacked
together, it was impossible to agree to the amendments made by
the Lords without surrendering one of the most precious
privileges of the Commons. The amendments were rejected without
one dissentient voice. It was resolved that a conference should
be demanded; and the gentlemen who were to manage the conference